The Nanny

Chapter Thirty Five

I stood on the sea shore my feet in contact with the wet grainy sand slowly sinking in, standing firm unable to move, not bothered by my stillness. My eyes could not look away from the mesmerizing scene ahead, it was simply breathtaking. The sky was like a curtain of silk, there were no clouds. The ocean is aqua blue, waves rippled gently against my sunken feet. A warm breeze swirls around me, my hijab flying in all different directions. I closed my eyes and breathed in the air that was pregnant with the smell of salt and listened to the sea song of the waves. It was serenity. Could there be anything quite blissful as an amble by the seashore?

I am at the private beach, with Imad. He is busy building sand castles and I was taking in my surroundings and trying to relax. There is no one at the beach just Imad and me. He wanted to spend the day at the beach. Today is the reception, the wedding and to be honest I can't wait for this to be over. I am nervous and also glad that it's going to end soon. "Layla I lost my goggles," Imad said, as he was running towards me.

"Where did you lose them? I saw you holding while we were leaving the villa," I told him.

"I left them on the sand and I think the waves took them," He said, sounding worried.

"That's okay Imad, we can look for them and if we don't find them we can ask Uncle Ahmed to buy for you a new pair. Is that okay?"

"Yes that's okay," he replied and then started walking towards where his toys were. I followed him and started looking for his googles by the shore, even though by now they are probably buried under sand in the sea or floating afar. But we tried to look for it and in the process, Imad started splashing water at me. It was all fun in games until I realized, the bottom of my dress is drenched. We did not find the googles, but it was fun playing with Imad. I walked towards the drier part of the sand and started wringing the bottom part of my dress, that's when I noticed my ring was missing. The one Ahmed gave me on the day we got married.

"Oh no..." I said. It must have slipped out of my finger when I was splashing the water at Imad. I walked towards the shore and started to observe the waves, deep down hoping a miracle happens.

"What's wrong?" Imad asks me.

"My ring fall off my finger, it's nothing to worry about."

"Will uncle Ahmed be mad?" He asked and looked down disappointed.

"No habibi he won't be mad. It's going to be fine..."

"Okay," he said and walked back to the sandcastle he built. How am I going to explain this to Ahmed? I don't know how he'll react. After a while we walked back to the villa. While walking I kept on glancing at my hand that felt quite bare, it's different without the ring on my hand. I am sure Imad could sense how unease I was,  we walked side by side and he looked up to me and just stared at me for a while. Probably feeling guilty, when he shouldnt.

When we reached the villa, and we walked in. I notice Ahmed sitting in the living room and he was smiling. I looked at him and for a moment all there was, was him, I just looked at him. It was strange to see him like that, smiling. He rarely smiles and I began to wonder what's going through his mind. I closed the door behind me, Imad ran to his uncle and started talking to him about the beach and how he lost his googles. I greeted him, while I passed him and headed for the stairs. I got to the bedroom, and entered the bathroom for a shower. After showering, I changed into dry clothes, I wore a black skirt and a printed turquoise shirt.

Ahmed walks into the room, as I put on my hijab. "Imad told me that you lost your ring," He said.

"Yes I did, it was by mistake. It slipped off my finger when I was splashing water on him. We were just playing," I explained.